4/23, 8:10pm, Cupcakes @ Twinkies

One in a row!!

Personally, I think it's the pitching coach. It feels like we haven't had aces since the days of John Farrell.

I also blame a lot of the "running into outs" on Bobby V trying to make "his mark". But then, it's tempting for me to try to blame everything on Bobby V...

But a WIN sure does feel good! GO SOX!

It's just me trying to get into the heads of this pitching staff. I'm convinced that it's the 'culture' of this staff, it's not a healthy one! It went south after the departure of John Farrell, and it was evidenced last September. No leaders,, all followers. I question the overall
Work ethic, and conditioning of this starting staff. Just my opinion.

I don't know how well the numbers back this up,but my feel last year was that the difference between that awful April and the dive in September it was the bats that carried us. We won mostly in spite of the pitching, between constant injuries and the starters going 6 innnings at best.
Missing John Farrell and the "addition" of jerkface Lackey also felt like big minuses.

im with macs here this team when successful was because of inane amounts of runs scored,pitching was by in large outside of kester and beckett pretty bad.

It's just me trying to get into the heads of this pitching staff. I'm convinced that it's the 'culture' of this staff, it's not a healthy one! It went south after the departure of John Farrell, and it was evidenced last September. No leaders,, all followers. I question the overall
Work ethic, and conditioning of this starting staff. Just my opinion.

Sorry, Pal, missed this and I agree 100%.

The team has run into something like 475,000 outs over the past few years, long before Bobby Valentine came to town.

I don't think that the bad baserunning has anything at all to do with Bobby Valentine, except that it's one of those things that I thought he would have done more to correct.

The team has run into something like 475,000 outs over the past few years, long before Bobby Valentine came to town.

I don't think that the bad baserunning has anything at all to do with Bobby Valentine, except that it's one of those things that I thought he would have done more to correct.

agree with rom ,i thought valentine would correct the baserunning,in the end at the end of the next 2 weeks orsoit will be fair to figure out whether the sox actually have the pitching horses to be a playoff factor,the rest is accedemic.

The team has run into something like 475,000 outs over the past few years, long before Bobby Valentine came to town.

I don't think that the bad baserunning has anything at all to do with Bobby Valentine, except that it's one of those things that I thought he would have done more to correct.

I just see some wacky choices and Joe C. will say "he must be doing that on his own" which we sure did do a lot of preV. But now, on the interviews, the players will say that they got the sign to run in that situation. If there isn't a sign then I agree it's a player problem. If there's a sign, then I think the errors are on the manager.

Maybe some of it is.

Something like yesterday, running into an out on a ground ball that was hit in front of Sweeney, is on the player.

Pedroia getting thrown out at second might have been a sign (and also a blown call by the ump) – but I don't think there was any mistake there. Two outs, two strikes on Ortiz. If you steal second, you aren't taking the bat out of his hands. They're still going to pitch to him at that point. If you're thrown out, then Ortiz gets to hit again the next inning in a situation (less than two strikes) that is far more conducive to success. It didn't work out – and it did. Ortiz singled to lead off the following inning, which set up the 2-run HR for Saltalamacchia.

The play that Ellsbury got injured on earlier in the year was a situation where he would have been running 10 times out of 10 when Francona was here. Full count, and even though it's less than two outs, with a guy who rarely strikes out at the plate the Sox pretty routinely sent the runner – especially when it's one of the guys who can steal the bag if there is a K. Bad result, but not one caused by bad managing.

There might be other instances where the baserunning mistakes came from the dugout, or from Jerry Royster picking up where Tim Bogar left off. But something like going on contact from third base, for example (I vaguely remember a really bad out on one of those, I think involving Punto), it's still on the player to read the ball and recognize an instance where they're going to be out by 30 feet at home but have plenty of time to put on the brakes and return to third.